China depends less on Russian Technology

MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia's arms industry is suffering a near collapse in exports to China, as military top brass agonise over which technology the neighbouring country should be allowed, defence industry sources told Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper.

The sources said that Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov would visit China to try to resolve problems in this key relationship before President Vladimir Putin's final term ends in May.

From a situation where 40 pct of Russian earnings from arms exports came from China, "recently exports to China of our military equipment and weapons have dropped almost to zero," the paper said.

One problem is the recent breakdown of a contract to supply transport and refuelling aircraft after problems at an Uzbek contractor, the paper said.

But the main issue is indecision over which technology can safely be sold to China, as well as Beijing's desire to receive licences to do the work itself, the paper said, citing a senior officer overseeing the arms industry.

Russia's arms export agency declined to comment on the report when contacted by Agence France-Presse, as did the defence ministry.

The paper said Moscow's willingness to deliver cutting-edge technology to India, another major importer of Russian weapons, had "embittered the Chinese generals," the paper said.

Russia has sought close military ties with China, particularly through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while the two countries have often aligned their policies as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. [email protected] afp/amk/cmr

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Phead128 said:

FACT STRAIGHT FROM ARTICLE:

Recent exports to China drops to zero due to "as military top brass agonise over which technology the neighbouring country should be allowed"

Assumption is that Chinese R&D has advanced so high that Russian technology is no longer needed or sufficient. NO WHERE in this article does it state that. Pure assumption. Definitely possible, definitely true. Indigenous R&D has improved, so of course, reliance on Russian imports will decrease. BUTS THAT NOT MY POINT! It takes decades of R&D and billions of dollars spent have imports from Russia drop to zero. I'm going to explain another realistic reason that can attribute to why Exports drop to zero...

Could it be possible that recent exports to China drop to zero be attributed to Russians NOT WANTING TO SELL tech to China?

Your basing it off supply and demand model where the supply of technology is constant from Russia where as the Chinese demand for Russian products diminish due to indigenous R&D development.

NO. The article states that supply and demand model does not apply. Russia is voluntarily withholding technology. That is why exports to China diminish. Its what it is said in the article and that is what makes sense. Russia will limit its exports of the top classified technology. I believe the title of this thread is incorrect.

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For all that, only one aircraft contract may be signed during the current visit – that on supplying four Kamov Ka-32 helicopters, which will be followed by two Kamov Ka-226 machines. Besides, according to a source with Rosoboronexport, China will start assembling Mil Mi-171 helicopters using Russian machine sets in 2008. The opening of Kamov and Mil service centers in China is also negotiated. At the same time, representatives of Rosoboronexport’s press-service said to Kommersant, “Director General of the FSUE Rosoboronexport Anatoly Isaykin will go to China, but you shouldn’t expect signing concrete contracts.”

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FugitiveVisions said:

The Mi-171 assembly deal sorta revived the military trade.

With an urgent need for large ariel transport due to the collapse of the IL-76 deal, I think we may hear something on the Mi-26 front pretty soon.

With the last of the S300PMU2s to be delivered by summer's end, a major S-400 deal is due. It's interesting to read that the Russians are confident that the Chinese will place an order.

And it's going to be interesting to see whether China caves in to the pressure to purchase Su-35s. Given the past investment in Flanker logistics, a regiment or two can't really hurt. We haven't heard about any new J-10s since the 2nd division and the first J-11B just made an appearance this year. Another order should speed up the current pace of modernization and replacement.

China has caught up with a lot of things but powerplants is still the biggest issue. J-10s, WZ-10s, 054As and Yuans all rely on foreign powerplants. And powerplants are a big reason why China doesn't possess things like large transport jets/helicopters, aircraft carrier, 5th generation jets, etc. China needs some engineering advances that provide economy of scope so the entire arms industry can break through this bottleneck.

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